Many Professional Engineers Not Taught Ethics

Professional engineers work on a lot of projects that humans use on a daily basis, such as roads, buildings, and bridges. A lot goes into these projects, since human safety and welfare are at the top of the list when it comes to priorities.

Engineers who receive public welfare responsibility training at school are more likely to consider the societal impact of technologies they design and understand possible concerns. Unfortunately, though, many of today’s professional engineers are not taught ethics in school. A study by University of Michigan researchers published in The Journal of Engineering Education found that nearly a third of practicing engineers in the United States have never received any training in public welfare responsibilities. Indeed, engineers have a duty to protect the public, but this can be hard to do when students aren’t being taught how to do so.

Public welfare responsibilities include issues such as safety concerns, differential access to the technology, environmental impact, and privacy and monitoring issues. Professional engineers cannot simply ignore these issues. They have to understand how the technologies they create will impact people’s lives.

There’s a high possibility that innovation may risk the health and safety of the public. Engineers in all fields have to deal with public welfare issues, but many are unprepared to do so. Some recent issues in the news include hostile AI chatbots, crashes involving self-driving car crashes, and faulty planes.

Researchers surveyed a sample of 508 working engineering professionals across a range of subfields in the United States. The survey asked about the types of training they had received on their professional responsibilities. The survey also asked whether they had encountered ethical issues that concerned them in their workplaces and whether they had taken action.

According to the study, 28% of participants reported an ethical concern at work at some point in their career, with 26% claiming that they have spoken up in response to a concern. Almost 80% of respondents agreed that it is an engineer’s professional responsibility to protect the health and safety of the public. However, many lack training to uphold this responsibility.

When asked about training, 39% reported receiving public welfare responsibility training in formal engineering classes, but most (46%) receive the training in their workplace. An area of concern is that nearly one-third (30%) of engineers acknowledged never receiving any training at any point in their education or career.

However, this training varied by subfield. Civil engineers were most likely to receive training, as only 4% claimed to have no training in regards to public welfare responsibility. Industrial engineers received the least training, with 44% never receiving it.

Keep Your License With Help From a Tampa Professional Engineers Licensing Lawyer

Ethics needs to be taught to all professional engineers, as they will likely face issues at some point.

If you are facing ethical issues, you need to protect your license and livelihood. A Tampa professional engineers licensing lawyer from The Law Offices of David P. Rankin, P.A. can help. I have represented more than 100 professional engineers before the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. Schedule a consultation today by filling out the online form or calling (813) 968-6633.

Source:

phys.org/news/2024-06-formal-classes-effective-welfare.html#google_vignette